


Old and New: The Past and Future

by Sonochu



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Carmen Sandiego has issues, Cleaners - Freeform, Coach Brunt has issues, Confrontation, Fix-It, Takes place during the African Ice Caper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:55:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29264652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonochu/pseuds/Sonochu
Summary: After their botched job at Botswana, Coach Brunt has the perfect opportunity to catch Carmen Sandiego unaware. It was time to tie up loose endsAfrican Ice Caper fix-it. No whump.
Relationships: Coach Brunt & Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep, Player & Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	Old and New: The Past and Future

Sitting in her suite onboard the train leaving Botswana, Coach Bunch stared at the set of Russian nesting dolls in her hand. The two smaller dolls were currently contained in the largest of them, and her eyes found themselves staring at the burn mark etched into the left portion of its face.

She was there when Shadowsan gave his debriefing on what happened in Argentina, and she later read what he wrote about the events in his report for the records, but looking at the dolls, she wondered if, contrary to what Professor Maelstrom believed, Shadowsan had been playing the faculty for fools as far back as then.

It seemed out of character for a person to mercilessly kill someone’s father, only to then save the kid and given them a souvenir. Then again, Shadowsan had always been weird.

Coach Brunt let out a tired sigh, wiping away the sweat forming on her forehead. The damned heat was getting to her. Africa was a shit hole. There. She said it. It was so damn hot and dry all the time, and she was constantly fighting off the fleas who thought her a delectable feast. Why people continued to live in the hellhole was beyond her.

When she first proposed the operation to the other faculty members, she figured that the Sub-Saharan heat would be nothing to worry about. She was a born Texan after all. Perhaps she spent too much time cozying it up on the Isle of V.I.L.E, though, as she felt like she was baking in a furnace.

Three sharp knocks came from the door to her suite before it opened and Carmen Sandiego was unceremoniously tossed onto the floor, bound in rope and gagged to keep the smart mouth of hers shut. The two cleaners often employed to do V.I.L.E.’s dirty work stood over her, leering at her with unmoving expressions.

Contrary to popular belief within V.I.L.E, the cleaners were perhaps their greatest asset. They could always be counted on to clean up the messes left by V.I.L.E. operatives. In fact, if they had an independent thought of their own, Coach Brunt would’ve been wary of just how capable they could be. As it stood, they made for useful lackeys to do tasks others couldn't. Capturing the elusive Carmen Sandiego, for instance.

“Hello again, Lambkins.” Coach Brunt greeted the struggling girl with a smirk, resting her free hand over the top of her seat “It’s time you and Momma Bear had a talk, don’t ya' think?”

Carmen briefly stopped her struggle to glance at the Russian nesting dolls in her hand, glaring when she noticed the burn markings. Perhaps it would have been intimidating if the girl wasn’t in such a precarious state. Instead, she reminded Coach Brunt more of a cornered doe than a predator in her own right. With all the trouble she had been causing V.I.L.E. over the last 18 months, Brunt would admit that she took a certain amount of satisfaction seeing her all tied up. It was karmic retribution.

“Take the gag off her. It’s not like she can shout for help in here anyway.” Coach Brunt said, gesturing to the makeshift soundproofing installed onto the walls around them. One of the cleaners did as instructed, ripping the gag off without a care for the girl's comfort. Satisfied, Coach Brunt continued, “You two can leave now. Me and ‘Carmen’ need to have a private chat.” Carmen’s name was said with clear disdain in her voice.

The girl waited for the two cleaners to step out of the room before speaking. “How did you find me here and where the Hell did you get my dolls?” she asked, a threatening growl in her voice.

Her aggression caused Coach Brunt’s smile to grow wider. It was cute that the girl thought she was anything more than a paper tiger. “Oh, these?” Coach Brunt tightened her grip on the nesting dolls, watching as Carmen’s eyes widened in horror. Carmen tried desperately to move off the ground to stop her but only ended up flipping herself over so her back was to the floor. “Well ole' Maelstrom couldn’t help but notice that the Carmen outerwear brand warehouse you love so much was just snatched up, and coincidentally we found several images of you getting on a plane to San Diego. It doesn’t take a genius to see what happened there.

“It was Malestrom’s idea to break into your little hide-y hole once your team left it,” she went on. “And we found a whole treasure trove of items, including these little dolls that you love so much.” Coach Brunt’s eyes softened as they returned to the dolls, if only for a second.

“I’ll be the first to admit that I never liked these things. They’re tacky, ugly, and nothing like what a doll should be. A doll should be soft and comforting. Something a kid can cuddle up to when they’re having nightmares. These will only give kids nightmares. Yet you decided to keep them for whatever reason.” Coach Brunt rolled her eyes as the thought.

Carmen grit her teeth. “They’re all I have of my past, of my family, of course I’d never throw them away! I actually care about my family, unlike you!”

“And who are you to talk about family? Coach Brunt sneered. “You betrayed the only family you’ve ever known. I gave you everything, treated you like my own daughter. Yet here you are trying to throw me to the police!” She sighed, furrowing her brow and rubbing her temples. “I wish I noticed the signs before you escaped V.I.L.E. Island for the first time. Then maybe I could’ve done something.”

“And turn me into some petty V.I.L.E. operative?” Carmen spat, finally working out a way for her to sit in the seat opposite Coach Brunt. “I would’ve never joined you once I learned the truth.”

Her comment was waved off, though the hand around the nesting dolls tightened even more. “Now don’t say that, Lambs –“

“Carmen”, she ground out. “I go by Carmen now.”

“You sound like a petulant little child. I hope you know that. Of course I can’t expect a traitor like you to understand family, loyalty. And to think I defended your graduation.” The last part Coach Brunt muttered quietly to herself, but Carmen still picked it up.

“What? But Shadowsan failed me!”

A loud chuckle came out of Coach Brunt’s mouth, but there was an edge to it, full of malice and anger. A sign of things to come. “Please, we all knew Shadowsan had a vendetta against you. He may have failed you in his final, but that wouldn’t have stopped you from graduating given your grades. Plus I suspected he may have been cheating you, and if I suspected it, the other faculty probably had similar ideas.

“Then why….”

“Did you still fail? Because V.I.L.E. also looks at your character. Are you able to take orders? Will you crack under pressure? Can you do whatever it takes to complete the mission? Being as naïve as I was, I fully believed you were capable of fulfilling them. The others did not, so your graduation was rejected.”

At the time, Coach Brunt was pissed at the other V.I.L.E. faculty. She knew Countess Cleo had problems with Black Sheep’s lack of decorum, but she thought Doctor Bellum and Professor Maelstrom would have her back. It turned out she was the only one truly blinded by Black Sheep.

Scowling, Coach Brunt slammed her unoccupied hand against the wall. Fear flash through Carmen’s eyes for a second. “This little disobedient act of yours ends here. You’ve gotten in V.I.L.E.’s way for too long; we’ve lost patience.” Coach Brunt took a deep breath and brushed off some dirt from her jacket before standing up, angling her body to the door, the suite’s single exit. “Now, I will only say this once in the name of family. Be a good little Black Sheep and come back with me or leave here in a body bag. There are no other options.” To emphasize her point, she cracked her knuckles and neck in an almost exaggerated manner. Typically, she did that before a fight to intimidate her opponents, but it also served as a nice way to loosen up. In fact, she typically taught that to her students.

Carmen frowned, continuing to meet her eyes defiantly. “Ever since I left the island, a question has been bugging me,” she started. Her non-answer frustrated her captor, but she was allowed to continue. “What would’ve happened if I didn’t want to join V.I.L.E.? No way you guys would’ve let me off the island with the information I held.”

Coach Brunt’s lips pressed together. “The thought never really passed my mind. You picked up thieving so quickly when you were younger that I just expected it to be in your blood.”

“In your blood?” Carmen mouthed to herself, confusion on her face. No doubt seeing the phrase as some connection to her biological family.

Really Coach Brunt had not intended the phrase to be a reference to anything other than Carmen’s ability to pick up thieving quickly. She was a natural. But the girl always did have a one-track mind when it came to her past. Somehow she cared more about the traitor and the whore who birthed her than the people that had raised her for nineteen years of her life, the ungrateful pissant.

While unintended, Carmen’s reaction to her phrase was all Coach Brunt needed for an answer. She’d wasn’t coming back willingly; it was time Coach Brunt accepted that. Carmen would never care about her like she did her biological parents. This meant all that was left was ending the threat to V.I.L.E. Permanently.

Looking down at the nesting dolls, an idea came to her. The dolls would make a nice distraction to finish the fight quickly. If she forced Carmen to have to pay attention to two different things, namely herself and the dolls, then she’d have a much better chance of finding an opening. Unfortunately, as she thought through her plan, she didn’t anticipate how much time she had actually been staring at the dolls.

Even as Coach Brunt drew her hand back to throw the nesting dolls at Carmen, expecting the girl to have some trick up her sleeve to catch them, the girl sprung out of the ropes binding her and leaped forward.

Carmen’s original intention had been to quickly incapacitate Coach Brunt in a surprise attack, but she switched her focus to the dolls when she realized what was happening. As the dolls flew through the air, she twisted around in order to catch them. This gave Coach Brunt the perfect opportunity to juke to the side to avoid her coming form and grab onto one of Carmen’s legs to threw her against the wall furthest from the door. While Carmen tried her best keep hold of the dolls, the force of Coach Brunt’s throw, as well as the ensuing pain, caused her to lose the dolls once again.

Bam! The sound of Carmen’s back connecting with the wall traveled across the whole suite. Even with the soundproofing the cleaners performed in the suite in preparation for Carmen, Coach Brunt was still wary about manhandling the walls too much. Screams were fine, but the noise from physical impacts would have an easier time reaching the next suite over, exposing what was going on. She’d have to be careful about that.

Because Carmen was known for her tricks and thinking on her feet, Coach Brunt chose not to press her advantage. Instead, she used the opportunity to pick up the dolls resting at her feet and continue her vigil over the door, the girl’s only escape. “Didn’t think you’d be so eager for another lesson from me after our last one ended terribly for you,” She taunted, waving the nesting dolls around like they were a prized trophy. Even if Carmen somehow made it past Coach Brunt, there was no way she’d run away without reclaiming her precious dolls. That gave Coach Brunt leverage, and she was going to eek it out for all it was worth.

The girl took her time getting up, though Coach Brunt wasn’t sure if she was being deliberately slow or just trying to not exacerbate the wounds already received. Tigress reported that Carmen was injured when they fought. How she didn't know. Either way, that meant that she would be nowhere near 100% when fighting Coach Brunt.

“Last I checked you were the one out cold after our last fight,” Carmen replied, grinning smugly, a petty victory on her part.

Screw tactics, Coach Brunt was going to pound that injured girl into a pulp! She charged forward with both fists raised, ready to do just that. Again, she realized her mistake too late.

A brief flick of her eyes between Coach Brunt’s two hands, and Carmen fired the grappling hook tucked away around her wrist at the coach’s hand still holding the nesting dolls. The force of the grappling hook connecting with the dolls and tugging them forward caused the coach’s momentum to work against her, resulting in her falling forward, right into the perfect spot for a roundhouse kick to the face. Carmen tried to capitalize on her victory by rushing past the fallen coach, but the coach recovered quicker, grabbing onto her and once again throwing her against the back wall like a pinball. A cry shot out of Carmen, who was now favoring her right side with a grimace. This time she was able to hold onto the dolls.

Coach Brunt reassumed her position in front of the door, waiting for her next attack. She saw no point in pressing Carmen too much considering she was already so injured. The girl would wear herself out soon; pressing the attack would only give her an opportunity to escape.

The two took the next several seconds to observe the other, looking for weaknesses. Based on her cry and her favoring her right side, it was clear that Carmen had an extensive wound around her left midsection which extended at least partway to her backside. That made it a prime target to attack. One thing Coach Brunt couldn’t understand though was why Carmen was brazen enough to shoot a grappling hook into her dolls. Weren’t they too valuable to risk damaging? That was very out of character for her. Unless….

“They’re fakes,” Coach Brunt said, venom oozing from her voice.

Carmen raised an incredulous eyebrow as if she was surprised the coach didn’t see it coming. It was all an act. Coach Brunt could see the smirk she tried in vain to hide. “You didn’t really think I’d leave my most prized possessions behind, unguarded, did you? Come on, you must’ve taken Criminal Psychology 101 when you were a student at V.I.L.E.”

Seething, Coach Brunt clenched and unclenched her fists to calm herself down, but her anger wasn’t abating. The girl thought she was so smart and witty. She was going to feel pain like no other, and Brunt would make sure it was nice and slow.

She slammed her clenched hand against the wall, not caring if someone heard her anymore. The force was so strong that an impression was left in it “Oh, Lambkins, You’re gonna’ see how I became the fighting instructor and number one fighter at V.I.L.E.”

The room was too small for Carmen to be able to get around Coach Brunt without getting in her reach. This gave the coach the perfect area for the fight to take place. Taking slow, measured steps forward, she analyzed every action the girl took. This time Carmen wouldn’t catch her by surprise. No more surprises. She’d be forced into a head-to-head fight, which she would surely lose.

Black Sheep, Carmen Sandiego, whatever the soon-to-be shit stain wanted to call herself was many things, including a fantastic thief, but one area she never quite excelled at was combat. She was good, great even, but she never took to it like she did pickpocketing or geography.

If she had time to plan and strategize, she was able to contend with the best of the best at V.I.L.E. She was creative and could think on her feet. Though, when the fight was just between her and her opponent, with no environment to exploit, Carmen would often find herself face-planting on the mat. A lot. Coach Brunt saw it time and time again when Carmen fought Tigress and Le Chèvre, and she suspected it would’ve happened frequently with the Crackler if he wasn’t soft on her.

Coach Brunt was going to replicate those results.

For her part, Carmen wasn’t backing down. Still holding onto the dolls, she took out a taser she'd been keeping hidden away before crouching down lowly, ready to strike.

She was making her moves obvious, which meant they were most likely a ploy. Coach Brunt had dealt with enough of her bait and switches see the inherent deceit at play. Carmen wanted Coach Brunt to believe she was going to leap and strike with her taser, but in reality, she was going to do something with her other hand. If Coach Brunt had to guess, the front was going to lead to Carmen chucking the Russian dolls at her. A similar tactic to Brunt's own, just with an added step.

Just when she was about to be within reach, Carmen sprung her trap. She feinted with her taser while throwing the dolls in her left hand at Coach Brunt’s shoulder. Expecting this, Coach Brunt was able to swipe the dolls out of the air, causing the set to crash against the side wall in pieces, but what she wasn’t expecting was for Carmen’s hand, which previously held the dolls, to use the momentum of the throw to give her a perfect position to fire her grappling hook at Coach Brunt's pant leg, effectively tripping her.

Coach Brunt was able to stay upright this time, but it meant she was unprepared for when Carmen vaulted over her and sprinted for the closed door. Even for a first-class cabin, the doors on the train were quite cheap, so all Carmen had to do was throw her whole weight against the door to cause it to burst open. The cleaners, who had been standing outside the door, were thrown to the ground, unable to get up in time to catch her.

“Wait!” Coach Brunt called out, desperation seeping into her voice as she rushed out of the suite and into the hallway. Carmen was already down the hall and about to step off the carriage entirely when Coach Brunt called for her. At her wit's end and with only one card left to play, Coach Brunt gave a mighty shout to make sure the girl heard her, “Your father. You still don’t know what happened to him.”

The statement caused Carmen to freeze in places, only a few feet from the exit. “What?” she asked in a hushed whisper.

The girl was far enough away from Coach Brunt to know that it was impossible to have been heard, yet the coach knew what she said regardless.

“Didn’t you ever question why Shadowsan was in Argentina to begin with?” Coach Brunt asked, a vindictive light in her eye when she knew she had Carmen’s full attention. “No doubt he told you, didn’t you?”

Carmen looked around uncertainly, refusing to meet Coach Brunt’s gaze. “He was on a mission to steal something. Buenos Aires has many valuable artifacts V.I.L.E. would love to get their hands on.”

“Sure, we sent Shadowsan to steal something. Your father's life. You've been working with your father's murder this whole time and you didn't even know it."

There, that was enough to get a rise out of Carmen. She was never good at holding in her temper, especially when justice was involved. No doubt she’d come right back up to her and confro-

A smoke bomb exploded where Carmen stood, flooding the hallway and blocking all lines of sight.

Coach Brunt scowled. “Damn girl.”

* * *

A quick trip to grab her jacket, fedora, and attach her glider and Carmen was safely gliding away from the train. Zack and Ivy were going to remain on board since there was no easy way to get them off, but as long as they didn’t draw too much attention to themselves, they would be fine. It was her Couch Brunt would be looking for.

Carmen pressed her earpiece as she watched the train disappear into the distance below her. “Player, you there?” The wind was howling against her ears as she glided; she hoped it wasn’t being picked by her earpiece.

A bit of static came through before she got her reply. “Sorry, Red, I think they were messing with our communications while you were held captive.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied. Though maybe it was time she looked into more secure forms of communication, if those even existed. “Can you book us a flight to Morocco?”

Player began typing away at his computer, already doing as asked even as he questioned Carmen “Morocco? Why would you want to go to Morocco? Unless…. No, you said you’d never go back to V.I.L.E. Island.”

Carmen released a puff of air. “That was before Coach Brunt brought my dad into this. I _need_ to know what happened to him, and we’ve already seen how cagey Shadowsan is about what happened in Argentina. He won’t tell me a thing. V.I.L.E. keeps all their operations stored on their servers on their island. That’s the only way I can know for sure what happened.”

If Carmen was able to see Player at that moment, she suspected that he would’ve been shaking his head at her. “Fine,” he said eventually. “I booked three tickets to Agadir. Just be careful, Red. You’ve been pushing yourself really hard lately.”

Despite the stress of the situation and the potentially horrifying revelation Carmen learned about Shadowsan, a small, soft smile crept up her face. Her first in weeks. “Only if you promise to go to bed at a reasonable hour.”

“I think we can work something out.”

**Author's Note:**

> This story fits somewhere between a proof of concept and a fix-it story for me. I wanted to stretch my writing muscles a bit for other projects I have planned, and I also wanted to change up how this scene takes place canonically as, while I really liked the show as a whole, I found this scene, and the motivations around it, to be kind of dumb.
> 
> Anyway, thank you all for reading!


End file.
